You know why I don't have a problem with Bob's smug dismissive attitude on films like The Amazing Spiderman, The Dark Knight, and Man of Steel?

Because none of them are NEARLY smart enough or dark enough to tackle the issues they claim to be tackling in legitimately intelligent ways (particularly Man Of Steel). It's just annoying, story padding, obscenely pretentious goobedy gook ("pretext" my foot) to distract you from just how stupid the overly complicated plots they come up with are. Stupid plots we're supposed to take with the most "4srsly, guise" face. All three of those movies are so damned ashamed of their source material and are so damned afraid to have FUN with its imaginative world that it sucks all the joy out of the movie going experience. Those films are about as "dark and gritty" as a fucking Goosebumps novel, and it's really a joke that those kind of movies are being hailed as "adult" by the masses these days.

Kubrick/Ford Coppola/Scorsese these people are not. When these new breed of so-called "dark" superhero movies start plunging into the depths of Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Straw Dogs, A Clockwork Orange, Falling Down, ANYTHING by Todd Solondz or Lars von Trier, the Watchmen graphic novels, hell even the ballsy ending to something like The Mist and others I'm sure ya'll can add to the list, thennnn we'll talk being oh so fuckin "dark and gritty", mkay kids? And lest we forget that District 9 wasn't a particularly "nice" movie either...

Basically those above superhero films love to Talk The Talk but not Walk The Walk. Those are "safe" dark movies (for obvious reasons) that can give pretense of darkness without actually having to go there. And I too am done with the needless cynicism and faux-darkness dripping into every blockbuser these days.

We live in a world where comic book characters created for ten year olds are now the sole province of thirty year old misanthropes.

Aren't we supposed to be LOOKING UP to these kinda folks? Aren't we supposed to feel pumped up and feel-goody after watching these Cool Dudes Doing Cool Stuff and overcome the odds and win the day? What the hell happened in this past decade that's made everyone spend the better part of our time deconstructing why they suck?

-----------------------------------------

Pacific Rim does exactly what it needs to do and doesn't waste time doing it. I'll agree that the characters didn't have an amazing amount of depth to them (neither do The Three I keep bringing up), and Del Toro's American films have always been plagued with clunky dialogue here and there. I too wish they would have done more with the Neural Handshake idea more to develop the two leads, but for what it's worth Charlie Hunnan and Rinkko Kikuchi still did a serviceable enough job to have me rooting for them. Mild disappointment in that regard. To me it seems like they leaned more on the two more readily veteran actors to carry the bulk of the human side; Charlie Day runs around advancing the plot as one half of the mad scientist duo, and the ultimate badass Idris Elba plays, well, the ultimate General badass, to where honestly this is HIS movie more than anyone else's. He gets the most meat in terms of character. And yes, he TOTALLY earns that "cancelling the apocalypse" speech at the end. I'm so glad to see him doing so well.

And yeah, there's no time for melodramatic Freshman Philosophy 101 nonsense to overtake the film; these monsters keep on coming and coming so we all have to work together and get the damn job done. Period. End of story. Cut through all the bullshit. BIG EPIC ACTION SCENES COMMENCE. And...yes yes omgomgomgYES this movie is BEGGING to be viewed on an IMAX screen. If you thought the trailer money shots were cool....oh you have no idea....

mecegirl:I went in, and into an IMAX 3D theater at that, expecting a big over the top action movie with some heart. That is what it promised, that is what it gave me. It fits perfectly with Del Toro's style. Just think back to all of the action movies that Del Toro has had a hand in? Deeper characters would have been a nice addition, but I don't think that they were necessary. I think that since it didn't try to have depth, like other over the top movies, that the lack of depth did not disappoint me. If you go to see this movie just know that you are going to watch a live action 80's mecha anime, deal with it, and have fun.

Praise about the movie from the person with an avatar from a giant mecha series based around neural interfaces and personal tragedies? No kidding. :)

BTW: I love Allenby. She is adorable.

OT: I'll see it, when it comes out on film. I'll watch it alongside EoE, and see which ones holds up better.

synobal:Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I just can't get excited for this movie. I just don't seem to be able get into the whole giant robots vs giant monsters.

I'm getting tired of the fact that it's a common figure of speech when someone doesn't like something that a lot of other people do, then they assume something is wrong with them. Why do people have to like everything that other people like too? What the hell is wrong with different people liking different things?

synobal:Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I just can't get excited for this movie. I just don't seem to be able get into the whole giant robots vs giant monsters.

I'm getting tired of the fact that it's a common figure of speech when someone doesn't like something that a lot of other people do, then they assume something is wrong with them. Why do people have to like everything that other people like too? What the hell is wrong with different people liking different things?

You're looking to deeply at my comment there. I'm just saying I don't really get the whole giant robot vs giant monster thing. But if I just post once sentence I seem to have a habit of getting a warning.

The action was intense and epic although I don't think it will do very well unfortunately. Mainly because it is camp and full of cheesy acting/dialogue. It will probably be a box-office flop (especially with a $180 Million budget) and end up a cult classic like Starship Troopers.

Its the only movie out right now and its only competition is grown ups 2 and is getting universal praise....box office flop my ass.

Was PR formulaic? Yes. But honestly no shits are being given, by the director or the actors or anyone else who seems to be involved, and they just turn into the predictable format and own it. Could they have broken out of it? Maybe. But if they had tried and then failed, like Man of Steel or the recent John Carter film, it would have made an otherwise good film seem... not good.

On the whole I saw it, I liked it and I felt that it did everything it wanted to do. So much so that I'd like to see a sequel if only so it could skip the tired origin story mess and just jump right into what every good action film should be, giant robots beating up giant monsters in an urban cityscape.

Bob, I was getting reasonably excited for Pacific Rim throughout your review and was even planning to go see it... then you told me that there was a new Chucky movie that doesn't look like a comedy and looks like it has some practical effects...

I'm sure the movie's good and would be a fun watch and be well worth the money and time spent to go see it, but whenever Bob gushes over (or completely bashes) a movie like this, it just makes me reluctant to believe almost anything he says, especially when he glosses over every negative aspect with something akin to "the movie's so good those don't matter."

Knowing how much Bob likes monster movies like this I'm not surprised to hear him gushing about it in an over the top manner. Granted the movie is probable great but I just think bob is overselling it just a tad lol. Will see this weekend for sure though.

They're too much for one brain to handle? I'm sorry, but that's past my ridiculosity tolerance. The whole point of having a machine with the same general shape as a human, that can make the same kinds of movements as a human, that a human can get inside and move around in or move around with and control, is that controlling it would be very natural and (assuming the machine works right) pretty problem-free and people would use *less* brain-power trying to manage it which they could then devote to other things, like combat. Also if there are ranged weapons that hurt them, why not use those the whole time instead of a giant close-up robotic exoskeleton thing?

The Kaiju are all fantastic and so are the fights. The pacing is great, there are no slow parts and i could actually follow what was going on. I think it rarely gets as good as this. The fight scenes are beyond epic in scope and scale and the references to anime, books, and videogames are amazing.

I seriously saw at least 3 or 4 separate Shadow of the Colossus moments. So good.

I just got back from seeing Pacific Rim in IMAX 3D and all I have to say is, "Damn that was an awesome movie." While there are a few minor plot points I don't quite buy, all of that get's drowned out and buried by giant mechs fighting giant monsters in awesome fight scenes. Money well spent.

.. Oh god. I hope it's good. Tell me it's good. Bob, tell me man... don't hold back. Is it worth seeing? Are my expectations way to high or- if this flunks I will be depressed. I've been waiting forever to see this movie I pray to god it's at least enjoyable.

*After seeing this review*

OT:YYEESsSSSSS!!! I'm so glad that the movie rocks and has amazing visuals! I'm SO going to see this as soon as my training for work is done. OOohhhh man I might even pay to see this in IMAX!! :D

pearcinator:It's not doing so well over here in Australia (opened in 4th place)

Not the first time I've seen this today, and it's really annoying me. It's been out for 2 days now, 2 week days. Save your judgments on how well the movie goes for the first weekend that it's out. The ONLY reason it is losing to kids movies is because it is currently school holidays.

Why there are bound to be those who go against something to seem different, I honestly thought the film was only alright.

It felt restrained, I mean, robots punching giant monsters in the face should make me feel more awesome than this movie did.

It felt restrained because you weren't doing the punching since its not a videogame. You referencing Platinum Games only confirms this, but few studios go so OTT as Platinum does so having the bar set there might be a bit unwise. I felt a bit the same toward the end though. Honestly I don't expect much from movies anymore, but this was pretty damn impressive.

jFr[e]ak93:Another week, another rip on the Dark Knight Trilogy. I'm really getting tired of him shooting those films down.

OT - It's giant robots fighting giant monsters! Messing that up would take a lot of skill. Looking forward to checking this one out.

Take a sip. And I'm sick and tired of hearing bashing on superhero films where the heroes are not going around and punching each other and spend more time on (gasp) character! It also sounds so damn arrogant of him to say that maybe that today audience doesn't deserve this movie.

jFr[e]ak93:Another week, another rip on the Dark Knight Trilogy. I'm really getting tired of him shooting those films down.

OT - It's giant robots fighting giant monsters! Messing that up would take a lot of skill. Looking forward to checking this one out.

Yeah, it's getting old and wearisome. They happened, Bob. Get over it already!But when he said no more world-weary cynicism in our movies, I'm on board with that. Now if we can just take it out of our video games too, then we're golden.This movie looks ball-shatteringly awesome and I must see it NOW!

I wish Bob would stop felating DelToro for his "most ORIGINALZ MOVIEZ EVAR".....

'cause, you know... .this is about as original as a dog turd. It may be a good movie (haven't been to see it yet) but given Bob's geek culture background, you think he'd have realized that the plot, concept, hell, everything about the entire movie is stolen directly from anime. All of it. Every last bit.

Metalrocks:sounds good and i sure are interested, but for some odd reason my cinema, who usually plays 2D and 3D version of the same movie,only has it in 3D. not really fond of 3D and it costs too much. looks like i have to wait till its out on dvd so i can watch it in normal 2D version.

seriously??? this movie one should watch not only in 3D but in Imax 3D. well go wait, I will go see this movie the way it was meant to be seen, Imax 3D.

So its a big stupid action movie basically? I'm down with that. I was hopin for big stupid action movie where the main point was to see giant robots punch giant aliens in the face. Hopin to go see it soon once I have a bit of pocket change.

Daemascus:I saw it at a preview screening yesterday, and I very much enjoyed it. Huge battle scenes, not too much bloat between bloat between them, and finaly a movie that decided it could end with out a massive sequel hook in it. A refreshingly self contained movie. GO SEE IT